Vodafone Spain launching 5G FWA


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The operator hopes to leverage its mobile network to gain a stronger market share in the fixed broadband market

This week, Vodafone Spain has announced that it will launch a 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) service offering by the end of the month.

The service will originally be available in parts of Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Malaga, Bilbao, and A Coruna, with Vodafone intending to increase this availability to 65 cities in future.

Customers will be able to receive speeds of “up to 1Gbps” according to Vodafone, though average speeds are likely to be lower.

The motivation for this push into 5G FWA is clear enough. While Vodafone’s share of the Spanish mobile market is around 23%, its share of the broadband market is much smaller. This is largely due to Vodafone’s fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network itself being dwarfed by those of its closest rivals, only passing around 3.5 million homes, compared to 27 million for Movistar and 17 million for Orange.

Vodafone’s 5G network, by contrast, is much more competitive, set to cover around 46% of the Spanish population by the end of the year. Couple this availability with the quick and easy installation process of the FWA hardware and it becomes a very attractive prospect for businesses and consumers, especially in relatively remote locations.

Vodafone already offers 5G FWA in various European markets, including Italy, Germany, and the UK.

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